Understanding Prostate Cancer: The Gleason Scale

The Gleason scale is the best way to know the status of your Prostate Health. The pathologists will be conducting a biopsy of your prostate to check the health status of the prostate. The higher the Gleason score the more important it is that your cancer will grow and spread quickly.

Core Needle Biopsy:

The most common type of prostate biopsy is a core needle biopsy. For this investigation, the doctor inserts a thin hollow needle into the prostate gland. When the needle is pushed out it removes a small cylinder of prostate tissue known as the core. This is often repeated so many times to sample different parts of the prostate cancer.

Gleason Sum and Gleason Score :

Since prostate cancer often has areas with different parts and grads are highlighted to the areas that it is affecting. These 2 grades are involved to yield the Gleason score also known as the Gleason sum. The highest Gleason score is 10.

Grades 1 and 2 are not often used for biopsies the lowest Gleason score found on cancer is 6. These cancers may be known as well-differentiated or low-grade and are likely to be less aggressive that is, they tend to grow and spread slowly.

Other tests in highlighting Prostate Cancer:

The Gleason score is the best in predicting the nature and behavior of a prostate cancer and determining the good treatment options. Still, other factors are also important, such as:

• The blood PSA level
• Findings on the rectal investigation
• Findings on imaging tests
• How much of each core is made up of cancer
• The number of cores that contain cancer
• Whether cancer was found in both sides of the prostate
• Whether the cancer ha surrounding  outside the prostate